'They shut you down and shut you up': St John Ambulance abuse survivor

From left: Mick Finnegan, Valerie McLoughlin, Mags Lamont, and Martin Hoey protest outside Leinster House to demand publication of the report into historical child sexual abuse allegations at St John Ambulance. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins

A whistleblower who complained about child sex abuse at St John Ambulance said he was “happy, but also shocked and angry” after a report into his concerns was published today.

Mick Finnegan, 40, from Crumlin, Dublin, was just 12 years old when the abuse began at the hands of a senior member of the organisation for which he was volunteering.

He told the Irish Examiner he felt vindicated by Thursday's report, but hit out at how the lengthy process involved impacted his “entire life” and all of his personal relationships.

He said: “There were people who didn’t believe me. The big thing for me is St John Ambulance knew about this for the best part of 40 years and throughout that entire period they chose to do nothing. That’s the bit I can’t get my head around.

“This has involved up to 15 men like me, I’m shocked, happy, angry and sad. I am vindicated massively but for me accountability is the thing. They continually ignored us, we were attacked, belittled, and brushed under the carpet. Some people said I was a liar. To put us through all of that has been horrible.

Anyone who was in charge then shouldn’t still be there and there are still safeguarding concerns for children. How is that even possible? They just hoped it would all go away.

“In one way, I can’t believe this is all out there now, it’s very surreal. I never thought I’d see this day.” 

Mick Finnegan said as a teenager he was 'groomed, sexually abused and ultimately raped' by the same man. Picture: Sam Boal /Rollingnews.ie

Mr Finnegan was the first person to publicly raise concerns about St John Ambulance after a report by Tusla in 2020 upheld his complaints against a former senior member.

Between the ages of 12 and 15, Mr Finnegan said he was “groomed, sexually abused and ultimately raped” by the same man, who is no longer in the organisation.

He said he reported the attacks to the gardaí in his teens but the DPP made a decision not to prosecute.

“I raised it first, but officially 15 people came forward after that and reported the abuse," he said.

“The process was so difficult and this is why people can’t go through it. They shut you down and shut you up. You’re up against a system and they will just nearly break you. The whole thing had a profound detrimental impact of my entire life. My father died not knowing the truth and it hurt my family and my relationship with them.

I am angry it’s taken this long, I came to several ministers over the years and I was ignored.

“A number of ministers listened to me, and senators, even the president wrote to me, but loads of people didn’t want to know”.

A report into the allegations was commissioned in 2021 by the Department of Children and the finalised review by Dr Geoffrey Shannon was given to St John Ambulance on November 28 last year.

However, the organisation did not publish the report until Thursday, prompting Mr Finnegan and other survivors to protest outside the charity's offices on Leeson Street in south Dublin for 19 days.

"We had to make St John Ambulance give me a date when they would publish the report and as soon as they did, we called off the protest, but that is what it involved," he said.

“I was a child, I did this for the child in me. I didn’t know anything other than something wrong happened to me and I had to bring it all out.”